Gradient estimates for viscosity solutions of singular fully nonlinear elliptic equations

We establish Lipschitz regularity for solutions to a family of non-isotropic fully nonlinear partial differential equations of elliptic type. In general such a regularity is optimal. No sign constraint is imposed on the solution, thus limiting free boundaries may have two-phases. Our estimates are then employed in combination with fine regularizing techniques to prove existence of viscosity solutions to singular nonlinear PDEs. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.